India’s Rupee traded mildly lower against the greenback after the IMF slashes India’s economic growth forecast to 4.8% for the fiscal year 2019 – 2020. At the interbank market, the value of Rupee closed unchanged settling at 70.99 against the US dollar. However, the USD/INR exchange rate was seen trading on Monday within a trading range of 70.96 and 71.10.
The International Monetary Fund IMF initially projected a growth rate of 6.1% for the India’s economy. The drastic revision in the IMF’s forecast was due to slowdown in local demand and increased stress in the financial sector. According to the same IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, the 2020 growth forecast stands at 5.8%. On the other hand, global economic growth is expected to pick up in 2020 to 3.3% compared to 2.9% in 2019.
The official GDP figures are scheduled to be released at the end of the month on 31 January.
The appetite for the risk currencies remains relatively subdued following the lackluster growth projections for the previous year and current fiscal year.
The dollar index settled slightly lower -0.04% at 97.60.
Elsewhere, foreign institutional investors (FIIS) were net buyers of shares in the local equity market worth Rs 5.87 crore; according to the National Stock Exchange of India data published at the end of Monday’s trading session. On the other hand, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net sellers of equities worth Rs -1419.85 crore.
The domestic benchmark equity index NIFTY 50 erased the previous week gains and settled down -1.03% at 12,224.55 on Monday. However, during early Asia trading hours on Tuesday, NIFTY 50 gaped lower and was seen quoted at 12,190.95.
The Indian 10-year government bond yield was seen quoted at 6.63% in morning trade compared with its previous close of 6.64%.
Currently, at the interbank market, one US dollar buys 71.14 Rupees, up 0.22% as of 8:00 AM UTC.